Another quickie on the iPad. Smatt is getting nastier looking all the time. I can totally see this style being used for a short comic. And it's fun to do.

Two quick Procreate sketches today, same style different approaches. I think I like the rougher Smatt better than the slicker, more 'realistic' Terry but that's ok. Both were fun to do and I got some art done. Also did another episode of the podcast. We approach our 50th episode which is kind of crazy. Means we've been at this for almost a year. I do feel good about that.

A quick before work sketch of the skater mice. The current sub-style works well for some characters, less well for others. The monkey doesn't really work with this but Digby and the mice seem to. Just a simple image to see how they'd work. They really lend themselves to be rendered in a much rougher fashion.

Haven't drawn in about a week for a couple reasons. First is that my sister came to visit and while she's sleeping in the spare room which also happens to be the studio, I also wanted to focus on her and not drawing or anything. Secondly, I finally got one of my two cataracts operated on. Vision is decidedly different in a very GOOD way. Things are already sharper, colors are more vibrant and I haven't worn my glasses since. And that's with only one eye done. When the other one is done mid-may, well, I'll be back to normal or better. This is page 8 of Ghiroy's reboot and it was not only fun to do, it came together really fast. Don't think I started this til 4:30 or so today. Makes me happy.

After the fox done yesterday, which went over rather well on Instagram, I wanted to do another one so pulled out the pose from last winter's Mass Ave print and redrew him in the same sort of style. The black lines are ink (iPad was recharging) and the colors from Procreate. I think it works really well as an organic feeling image and I can see these working well as prints.

Something I never do; contests. This wasn't really a contest, just a 'draw in your style' kind of challenge. Since the subject in question was a fox, I decided to try. This from someone I follow on Instagram, @vanessagillings. Procreate.

Ghiroy page 7. This is my third go around with this comic. Will it ever go anywhere? Probably not but since a popular podcast that involves D&D just raised over ten million bucks, I figure there's no reason not to keep trying. The one thing I will say for this is that the current part, all in the caves is hard to see unless the pages are against a dark background. Likely most people are missing things because other stuff on their desktops or screens is glaring stuff out.

And another Sad Boy.

Three new abstracts for the morning. Therapeutic in a way an otherwise just fun. Might be more fun with paint but far more messy and I'd end up with this giant painting to add to the ones already in my closet.

Not going to explain this just yet, but this was an experiment. I call him Sad Boy. Well, maybe I will talk about it. This is an experiment in marketing, or branding, whatever one might call it. In this age of symbols that seem meaningful but don't really stand for anything, I think Sad Boy has a real shot. Or why not? I'd wear t-shirts with him on it. There's more work in these than there seems; it's not just drawing it's painting over as well. I have a fondness for Joyce Pensato's work, and this is sort of my take on this. I made these images on the iPad so that they'd print at 16x20 but I can see them much bigger. Or I'll never do them again.

Did another one of these this morning. This time, I rotated the canvas many times, zoomed out and did the things I said I'd do with the last one. I also have a process video which I posted elsewhere. Made sure to make this 16x20 at 300dpi so I could print it if I wanted to.

Another quick abstract on the iPad tonight. There are some times that I can only scratch artistic itches with abstract stuff. This one was fun, but also had me really thinking of three things at the same time; composition, spontaneity, lack of image. I didn't want it to represent anything. The more I work at something abstract, the more it tries to look like something. Also, even with just black and white, I zoomed out to check the balance of the colors. The only things I didn't do were flip or turn upside down. Perhaps I should have. Even though I didn't work on this too long, I could feel, to some small extent how some of the masters would work and work a canvas over long periods of time. Again, for me, that risks making it look like something. We all have our different ways of working.

New Ghiroy page. There was kind of an artist block on this one so it sat for a few days. Today, the block broke and I managed to go from zero to done. Which makes me happy. Sometimes there are days when I don't think I can do this and/or that what I'm doing has no value. This doesn't help. Eventually, I get through and I think Ghiroy is a stronger comic because of it. I cannot WAIT til the group gets around the corner to a torch or some OTHER form of light so I can add some other colors. I think the palette works fine for the moment. I just want a change. And there will be.

Haven't been drawing much this last week as scheduling has been a problem. That being said, it's also an issue trying to remain focused on Ghiroy and not wander off into other styles or work. I recently rearranged some stuff in the studio which had me going through and getting rid of a lot of my books. Reference books just aren't as much a thing as they used to be as there's so much more varied and accessible information on the web. There are still some books I don't want to do without, some of which capture work or information in ways the web can't. I just really don't need any more books. Really. And the danger of flipping through any given art book is suddenly wanting to do something like THIS or THAT which takes my head and hand out of the task in front of me which, currently, is Ghiroy. Sometimes I can exorcise art demons like this, with quick, ten minute sketches. Sometimes I can't. Portraiture is a favorite and I miss doing it. Again, it's not related to the comic. Must keep focused.

Ghiroy promo for the new re-boot. Also, I needed an album cover for the stuff on Flickr.

Just some quick demo sketches from work of the Ghiroy crew and possible characters that could inhabit that world. What's fun is that the current style is easy enough to adapt to different species and types. Easy and quick. Fun. iPad and Procreate.

We enter the actual dungeon, which means we must be getting somewhere. The original comic did suffer from a lack of setting, or me showing any. It was just dark. I'm going to try and show more of that kind of thing as the comic goes on. While the angle on this page isn't my favorite, it showcases the dungeon entrance and that's what's important.

I am a lazy bastard. I cannot deny this. That has nothing to do with why there's been nothing for the past five days. We had a visitor over the weekend so the studio became a spare bedroom and I wanted to spend time with my guest. That all being said, I had a lot of stuff to do today. Managed to get three loads of laundry done, I called my insurance company to make sure my upcoming eye surgery was covered, I received, tried on and posed with my new set of scale armor (for the orc costume), edited an episode of the podcast, cooked dinner, napped, played some video games and still managed, somehow, to get a new page done from scratch. It's only 10 pm. I'll be up for another three hours. Today was a freak occurrence. I never get this much done. But I'm glad I did.

All that being said, I've been toying with and seriously considering making myself focus on just one comic this year. Ghiroy. Why? Because I actually got some feedback about it recently and most of it, even when constructive, was positive. I think that things get watered down and progress more slowly because I have all these styles. So... I think I'm going to try not to look at so much art that isn't related and maybe, at least for a few months, try working on only one thing. We'll see.

Page 3 of the Ghiroy re-boot. All the pieces are in place and we can continue on mucking about in ruins, looking for treasure and hoping there's no monsters.

Second page of the re-launch. I wanted to keep some of the fluidity of the original version while updating it with some of the traditional parts of comics like panels. I'm still thinking about the font. One of the problems is that some of the fonts I have may or may not require some kind of payment if I ever publish, and as I really don't want to do the letters by hand any more, I have to choose something. This might be a place holder as it's a font that comes with my computer, but I don't see it used that often. I'll likely catch some crap for it, but until I find something better, so be it.

So, there's this. Could it be that I'm starting this damned comic AGAIN? Yes, it could be. Why? I got some good feedback on the comic which allowed me to see that maybe there was something more there than just a cute little experimental piece of junk that was wasting my time. I need to focus, to keep the style the same, keep things simple and tight. I think I can keep some of the experimental elements while also making something that will appeal to someone other than me. I'm pretty happy with this, even down to the logo. One of my harshest critics, not me, liked this a lot. While I'm not making something to please him or really anyone, knowing what works is a good thing. Let's hope I can continue working like this or making something that might finally appeal to some kind of audience.

Continuing with the development of Ghiroy's look, this is a little expression sheet for Ricken. Trying to be looser and more linear in the character designs. Fairly happy with this.

In going further with the 'new style,' I added another image of my character, Kevin to the pile. I need to both loosen up and be a little more linear in my approach. It's a weird combo of not caring and being precise. I can't explain it. But this is pretty much what I mean.

Quick test of a new approach. While I'm still using the greyscale to build my shapes, the first overlay is using the 'proper' colors for the character. The final overlay is for the accent color for lighting. So in this case, greys, a series of caucasian tones, oranges and browns over that in overlay mode and a final layer in blue in multiply. It's a lot more work but I think it's a bit more striking and has more depth than does the brighter colors I have been using.

Pretty happy with not only the style change on this (I HOPE it's the last) but the fact that this page went from nothing to finished in one day AND I had a short shift at work today as well. The WIP image, top, shows the original Procreate sketch and most of the greyscale parts done. When I came home, I finished the greys, did a background and then the overlays and lettering. This goofy little D+D comic may have just matured a little.

As plain as this image might seem, it's deeply personal. This is Kevin, my personal avatar in role playing games for over 30 years. While he's on the back burner, he's never far from my thoughts. He's the best I could have hoped to be in a hero form. This isn't a perfect representation by any means, more a cartoon representation. I think I've drawn him three times total in the past decades. Sketch on iPad in Procreate, finish in Affinity Designer.

Another quick morning sketch of Estarion. I wonder if this means that, because I've now drawn him twice, he's going to get killed in tonight's game? Hmmm.

Here's something I never do: sketch my role playing characters. Decided to do this one. It's a good old fashioned D+D half-elven bard I'm currently playing. This also helped me work a little with that style I'm experimenting with for Ghiroy. It really is a lot more of what I had in mind in the first place. The background is dull, but workable for this. Still did this in shades of gray with different kinds of overlays. I think it works fairly well, even if the pose isn't very exciting.

Once again, I was playing with the character designs for Ghiroy. Why? Because I'm never satisfied with them. Even though I started to unify them based on existing designs yesterday, I saw someone else's work, someone more mainstream and wondered if I might at least address the noses, something I've never liked on the characters. One thing lead to another and this afternoon, I was redrawing the two heads from this week's page in this new 'style,' and adjusting the page. I think it looks a lot better. It also looks a bit blander. Will that help sell it? Will that make it a little more approachable? Will it be something I want? Who the hell knows. I don't.

This is how a page of Ghiroy is supposed to go: fast. Sometimes I think I spend too much time on the pages for this. It was meant to be a quick, dirty bit of fun, nothing else. Sure, there can be more serious content in the story, I just didn't want it to become a chore, and it did, here and there. Made for some good pages, sometimes but slowed me down and kept me from doing them, much as I'm having trouble with City Silent right now. When making this, there was a REALLY weird 3D effect going on with the text at the bottom. That blue was shooting forward of the red like the old red and blue glasses. The most weird part is that I have a cataract in my right eye so 3D stuff doesn't tend to work for me at all. This was burning right through it. Doesn't seem to be doing it in the jpg version, which is probably a good thing. I've never seen just straight color do that before. Otherwise, Crow and his brother don't get along, and Ricken has problems with elves. Or guys getting too close.

Another portrait abstract style. These are harder than they look. This is my third attempt. There's a balance between the aesthetic of the big, splashy marks and any kind of attempt for likeness. This one almost succeeds. If anything, I think it's a little too close to realistic. Might work more with this, might not.

Another abstract after work. This one started out more like an asian character but then developed into something more representational, which is fine. I did this one at 16x20 at 300 dpi thinking I might print it, or at least have that option. Wonder how it would look as a giclee print?

Was thinking about or looking at some Franz Kline and missing playing with real paint. Decided to take the iPad in hand and play about somewhere near his sandbox. I think I'm too representational for real abstraction (number 3 anyone?) but I could easily see making some big work with paint like this. It's really down to the joy of making marks, of paint. Trying to paint something utterly non-representational is harder than people think. Every time I've tried, there's usually at least one kind of obvious suggested subject. Even if I wasn't thinking of anything, there it is. One of my earliest abstracts, maybe my first still hangs on my wall. I remember bringing it along to a furry convention of all things and someone there offered to buy it. Didn't want to sell it. Still don't. I had "Pollock" on in the background and had just finished some other representational work and suddenly wanted to do SOMEthing else. I did that. Just fingers. Still like it. These are all about texture. Maybe if I do more, I'll work more on subject or lack thereof. Til then, there's these.

Screwing around with nothing. I haven't touched real paint in a very long time. There were some unused canvas boards in the closet and I got an itch. The pencil sketch wasn't even preparation for this, it was just sort of the catalyst. I just had a want to feel paint again. Because of this, the first layer of the painting (red background) was done just with my fingers. Subsequent layers were done with brushes that shrunk in size though I tried to keep from getting too detailed, wanting to retain that rough texture and feel. This is a lot like how I was painting 20 years ago. There's no pretense of this being anything worthwhile, I just wanted to paint. And I don't hate it. It's fine. I then decided to try and replicate this whole thing on the iPad. I will say it's a lot quicker process. It also yields different results though equally satisfactory. There is still something luminous about the paint that I can't get from the iPad, but there's a cohesion I don't quite get from the paint, either. A waste of time in one sense but a nice diversion in another.

Cheating? No. Yes, I reused most of page 59 in page 60 but I did it for a specific reason. I wanted there to be a paused moment. I could have reinked the pencils or something but that felt like busy work just to be busy, or perhaps to assuage my conscience for repeating images. And yet, would it have really done what I wanted? By reusing the same images, I remove excess focus on them. If they were noticeably different, I think the reader would start visually poking about, looking for more than just the subtle changes in inking to see if they missed something else or there was another small detail that mattered that had been changed between the two pages. Since they're not, I think the eye of the reader will not linger more than I want it to and go right to the text, assuming that Silas is 'taking a moment to wake up,' or come out of dream. That's what I wanted. I could even see the argument for putting another copy of the artwork without any text at all between 59 and 60. That felt excessive, but I'll revisit it when I compile the song. I did draw a new element; the ladder. First thing I've inked by hand in like three months. Why is there a ladder in his bedroom? Is he still asleep? I guess we'll see.

I've been dragging my feet on City Silent. No idea why, just haven't felt the motivation to work on it. What a nice surprise when I opened the folder this morning and found that I'd already completed the next page, hadn't posted it and had forgotten all about it. That being said, now I have to work on the next page. The song is at least a little more clear in my head. Doesn't mean that the rest of it is magically done...

The earliest piece of fine art I remember seeing is "Christina's World," by Andrew Wyeth. It had a strong effect on me and I thought about it often, even as a kid. The board game "Masterpiece" was full of real paintings to be bought and sold. All of this and being brought to the MFA as a child made a lasting impression. I'm glad I got to tell my mom before she passed away. You never know what a kid is going to remember and latch onto, so expose them to all sorts of good stuff. Something will stick.

Somehow forgot to post this one. Just a quick image of Smatt, but I was really happy with the looseness of it as well as the layers of color. Have not been drawing much lately. Must change that.

Work demo. A coworker was dumb (nice) enough to stand still while I took their photo to be used as a demo sketch. Daniel, Procreate, iPad, approx. 45 minutes.